In recent years there has been a proliferation in the number of satellite antennas in use by individual households. The use of satellite antennas to receive satellite television transmissions has provided these households with access to hundreds of television channels. This often represents many more television channels than are available through local cable television systems. The use of satellite antennas also makes these television transmissions accessible to rural households which may not have access to cable television. In most cases, however, local television station broadcasts are not made available over the satellite transmission. Thus, for households desiring to watch local over-the-air broadcast channels, as well as channels available through the satellite transmission, a second, terrestrial, antenna is required in order to receive the local channels.
The requirement for two separate antennas, satellite and terrestrial, presents several difficulties. First, the requirement for two separate antenna support structures increases the costs incurred in setting up and maintaining the antennas to receive both local and satellite television channels. Also, mounting two separate antennas in separate locations requires separate cables to be run from each antenna location to the location of the television receiver. This also increases setup and maintenance costs. Finally, the mounting of two separate antennas in two separate locations is not aesthetically pleasing.
A solution to these problems is to mount the satellite and terrestrial antennas in the same location. This allows the satellite and terrestrial antennas to share the same support structures, as well as much of the wiring necessary to connect the antennas to the television receiver. An example of a known device used to mount a terrestrial antenna in the same location as a satellite antenna is the Tennamount.TM., which is designed to attach a conventional terrestrial di-pole antenna to the support structure of a large (72-120 inch diameter) satellite dish antenna. This device consists essentially of a bent tubular structure which is connected at one end to a satellite antenna's support post and at the other end to a mast supporting a conventional terrestrial di-pole antenna. The bend in the device provides necessary physical separation between the satellite dish and the terrestrial antenna and mast.
Most recently, satellite television systems have become available which receive digital television signals from a satellite. These new systems provide higher quality video and sound, and feature small (e.g., 18 inch diameter) satellite dish antennas, which may be conveniently mounted on the wall or roof of a house. This represents a significant improvement over the earlier, large diameter, satellite dishes which typically had to be mounted separate from the house, such as on a heavy support post mounted in a concrete footing in the ground. However, the new digital satellite television systems still typically do not provide access to local broadcast television channels. Thus, it is still desirable to use a terrestrial antenna in addition to the digital satellite antenna.